Why ‘American Beauty’ Works: Focus on the Use of Symbols

Here is part of a short discussion by David Freeman on the use of symbol in American Beauty:

Alan Ball, the screenwriter of ‘American Beauty,’ makes riveting use of the color red throughout the film. The first time we see Annette Bening, she’s cutting bright red roses.

What does the colour red mean in this movie?

The way Ball uses it, it refers to a concept: the life force, which, by nature, tries to defy the suppressiveness of suburban life. That’s why, the first time we meet Annette Bening, she’s cutting red roses. She’s cutting the life force. Shortly thereafter, we see her emotional and spiritual control in action, such as during a painfully stilted family dinner.

Back to the life force… For Kevin Spacey, the life force which suburbia can’t repress is sex. And so, in his fantasies, Mena Suvari, his object of lust, floats on a bed of red rose petals, or soaks in a tub covered in roses. In their final, near-sexual encounter, a vase of red roses is evident.

Read the rest here.

Never Let Me Go and Frankenstein

We have discussed Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go as a gothic novel. Ishiguro has imagined a world where disease is being conquered by the harvesting of healthy organs from human clones bred expressly for this purpose. For many readers reviving the idea of scientists violating the natural order in a more modern setting makes it a very interesting read. Like Mary Shelley before him, Ishiguro imagines a frightening world in which man plays God. In Frankenstein (1818), Victor dreams of a world in which ‘(he) could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but violent death’. Ishiguro creates just this world in his fiction, only the ‘creatures’ are not just similar to the rest of the human race in nature, but also in appearance, and even upbringing. Many of us would believe that a world without pestilence or disease is one that we would like to live in, but Ishiguro’s world is somewhat disturbing. Like Frankenstein’s creature the clones disturbed accepted notions of what it is to be human. Is a clone human? Does a clone have a soul? What Shelley and Ishiguro’s novels have in common is portraying the horror that inevitably occurs following a reverse of the natural order.

Red, white and blue – the use of colour in American Beauty

We have talked so much about the use of red in American Beauty but other key colours in the film include white and blue. The use of red, white and blue obviously suggest America and help us to focus on the film’s messages. Red, white and blue come through in clear and at times subtle ways. Let’s look at some examples from the beginning of the film.

Remember when one of the Jim’s was admiring Carolyn’s roses and asks her how she is able to grow such beautiful red roses? Carolyn says she uses eggshells (white) and miracle grow (blue). Red, white and blue. Then we have Lester running from the house, he’s late for work and rushing. He drops his briefcase. What spills out? Red, white and blue folders. What is surrounding him? A white fence, white trim on the windows, the red door, the blue shutters …

So what do you think Mendes is trying to tell us?

A search for beauty

You may find this analysis of American Beauty by Brittany Deschlar interesting:

There are many connecting themes in American Beauty. Through plot, characterisation, and cinematography these themes are conveyed well. Overall, this film is highly successful in layered themes and counter themes. The main themes that the film draws attention to throughout the movie are that of materialism, appearance versus reality, denial and repression, control versus chaos, loneliness versus feeling connected, change and searching, and beauty (subjective and objective). Each character is an agent in one or more of the themes as explained below.

One of the most apparent themes in this film is that of the empty promises of materialism. The American Dream is what the Burnhams seem to have: good jobs, a house in the suburbs, children, two cars, and a nice home. The Art Culture Film website describes them as “trapped by the ideology of the American Dream”. Carolyn Burnham is obsessed with materialism and other’s opinions of them. She loves her house and possessions and to her these things equal success. Mendes shows in the scene in which Lester is trying to kiss her and show Carolyn they can still experience passion. They are on the couch and she almost submits to the moment when out of the corner of her eye she notices that Lester is about to spill beer on her couch and warns him. Lester, frustrated, yells, “It’s just a couch!” to which she replies that it is not just a couch, but one that cost $4,000 and is upholstered in Italian silk. In a scene in which she fights with her daughter, Carolyn yells at Jane for not appreciating the life she has (meaning the possessions she owns.) Material accumulation is what she views as a means to being happy, and does not understand that her daughter would benefit more from a close relationship with her mother.

Read more here.

 

American Beauty Cinematography

The cinematography in the film, American Beauty, plays a pivotal role in establishing character, both in their relationships to one another as well as the role each one plays in the movie. Much of the movie’s perspective is derived from the main character, Lester Burnham. Consequently the cinematography reflects Lester’s nature, which is at times apathetic, cynical, fatalistic, fantastical, and, ultimately, nostalgic.

The film begins with an aerial shot, displaying a typical tree-lined suburban neighbourhood. Lester’s voice over can be heard, but his house’s location within the neighborhood is left unspecified and the viewer instead is left to absorb the endless slew of seemingly identical rooftops. As the film centers heavily on Lester’s family life, perhaps one of the most indicative illustrations of this is the long shot of the Burnham’s dining room that is used multiple times throughout the film. The decoration of the room is elegant but stark, exemplifying the Burnham’s sterile home life. The composition of the shot itself is taken from the side of the excessively long dining room table, with Lester at one end, his wife at the other, and their daughter caught in the middle, indicating where she finds herself during Lester and Carolyn’s bickering. When Lester goes to work at a job where he feels confined and unappreciated, the shot is constructed so that the ceiling, cubicles, and the harsh overhead lights are all exaggerated for the viewer.

Read more here.

Banned Books – How many have you read?

American Cookie

The Kite Runner joins gay penguins on top 10 books Americans want banned

We have many books that we teach that have been challenged or even banned in some places. Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is one of them. In 2008 the American Library Association’s ‘most challenged’ books included Khaled Hosseini’s bestseller alongside perennial bêtes noires His Dark Materials and And Tango Makes Three.

Khaled Hosseini has joined the illustrious ranks of Philip Pullman and the authors of a story about gay penguins, after his novel The Kite Runner became one of the books that inspired most complaints in America that year. Here’s what the Guardian had to say:

The bestselling and critically acclaimed title, the story of a 12-year-old Afghan and his betrayal of his best friend, includes the rape of a boy, and provoked challenges in the US over what objectors saw as sexual content and offensive language. Some objections led to the removal of the book from library shelves, while others saw it replaced with bowdlerised versions minus the offending scenes, according to the American Library Association, which compiles an annual list of the most challenged titles in the country.

Read the rest here.

Week Three is Banned Books Week

Next week is Banned Books Week. We will run a series of activities at school, including online competitions.

In the graphic above author Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is highlighted. The dystopian novel has been banned for many reasons since its publication in 1953 but it is still taught in many high schools around the world. Here’s what Shmoop has to say about the book:

Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of a futuristic world in which books are banned and burned, TV is everyone’s drug of choice, and independent thinking is basically illegal. Ray Bradbury first wrote the tale as a short story called “Bright Phoenix” in 1947. The work progressed to adolescence as a novella called The Fireman, and finally became a full-grown novel in 1953. This was Bradbury’s first Big Important Serious Work, though he was already famous for science fiction stories like his 1950 collection The Martian Chronicles. These stories put Bradbury on the map, but Fahrenheit got his name on the literary A list.

While the novel does touch on the dangers of censorship, Bradbury was adamant that this was not his focus. The novel is about the dangers of television, he said, and his fears that such mindless entertainment would replace recreational free thinking. Remember that in the 1950s color TV was the hot new thing; it represented the burgeoning empire of leisure. Add into the mix Cold War fears of “suspect” individuals and a need for straight-laced conformity, and you’ve got an environment ripe for Fahrenheit-style fears. Critics recognised the relevance of Bradbury’s work then, and still do today.